Sorry folks! Been raining like crazy lately and there's no way I'm getting out in that!
If anyone asked Harry Potter how his day would go after that near fatal attack by two 'rogue' dementors, he would honestly claim he didn't expect this.
Being locked in his room was annoying, but that swiftly turned to confusion when he saw the woman in his doorway. He didn't know what country her uniform was from, but everything about her screamed 'career military' to him.
This was the sort of woman who went in the military for the long haul and only thought of dating as an afterthought.
In short order he found himself bundled off into a rather discreet car with Hedwig's cage in the back seat (the owl was out making deliveries) and all his possessions in the boot.
The woman looked really familiar for some weird reason, but he couldn't really put his finger on why. He had never seen her before and she was rather distinctive.
It wasn't until they were halfway to London that he dared asked the question that had been bugging him since she appeared.
"Excuse me, but who are you?" he asked confused.
"I take it Sirius didn't give you a warning?" she asked.
He almost straightened at that. Knowing Sirius meant she was a witch and he was a bit leery of magicals after nearly dying from 'rogue' dementors. Strangely, he felt perfectly safe around her and he didn't know why.
Which only made his paranoia worse.
"Are you one of the watchers Dumbledore has around the house?" he asked suspiciously.
The woman grimaced.
"God no. I'm not with those idiots. Look it's hard to explain, but I'll try to make it easy. What do you know of your family?" she asked carefully.
"My parents died when I was a baby and you've seen my aunt."
"I can't believe that damn mutt is making me explain this headache... he should have at least given you some warning about me..." she grumbled in irritation. "Do you know anything of your parents before that night?"
"No one tells me anything, except that my mother was good at charms, my father was a prankster and that I'm the spitting image of the man with my mother's eyes," said Harry flatly. "Outside of that, they always clam up as if that should be enough."
She sighed in open annoyance, then pulled over.
"Long story short I'm your older sister by about four or five years. Our parents sent me away because they had just graduated Hogwarts and I was born a week before the wedding. Since there was a civil war at the time and they were on the side against the idiot who had a habit of killing families down to the last child, I was sent to live with our cousins in Italy. I only learned the full story when I was sixteen, a few months before I claimed the Potter family rings that made me the current head of the family. Though from what I was told, Sirius made you his heir since he's the current head of the Black family, so it's not like you're missing out on anything. It didn't hurt that their magic is predisposed towards men anyway."
"I... what?" said Harry in shock.
He had an older sister?!
"From what I understand they kept my existence a secret for security reasons...and because technically I was born out of wedlock since I came a week before the actual wedding took place. They were making arrangements to bring me back when they were killed, and only a select few were made aware I even existed," she said tiredly.
"Why didn't you come sooner?" Harry demanded.
"Because until a year and a half ago I had no idea I even had a younger brother. I left the magical society behind the second I graduated and joined the military the next day," she said flatly. "I only recently got out of officer training school, which means I have time to get a house or apartment near the base since the regular soldiers have to sleep in the barracks."
Harry mentally tallied up the age difference to make her about nineteen or twenty. He didn't know a thing about the military so her story did seem plausible.
"Where are we going?"
"Gringotts. We need to formally remove you from Hogwarts and set you up as a self-study student, as well as seal the English vaults until this mess is sorted out," she said promptly, and left no room for argument.
"What?!" he squawked.
His sister (and it was going to be really weird saying that word, even though something in his gut told him she was telling the truth) gave him a flat look.
"I may not have known of your existence, but that doesn't stop me from reading the back issues of the paper. You were literally forced into a tournament that could have gotten you killed a dozen times over and not a single adult bothered to speak up on your behalf. Not to mention if even half the 'adventures' that mutt told me are true, then you've been in mortal danger since you were eleven. Like hell am I going to let any family of mine suffer through that sort of death trap," she growled.
"But my friends..."
"There are such things as two-way mirrors or journals, brat," she said flatly. It was clear she was not budgingon this issue. At all. "If your friendship is as strong as you think it is, it'll survive the three years away from them. Real friendship can withstand a long-distance relationship."
Harry though back to how Ron reacted to the entire tournament fiasco and winced. Somehow he had the feeling that particular friendship wouldn't last past the news that he was going to be removed from Hogwarts. Hermione was a toss-up, in all honesty.
Perhaps it would be better to stay in contact with the twins instead? He knew they liked him and he had practically cemented their loyalty when he gave them the start-up money to buy their own shop.
Lal Mirch was not happy. She could see the signs of abuse on her little brother and she didn't think it was just from the crappy home she removed him from. Petunia had been all too happy to sign the papers and renounce any connection to her 'nephew', unaware that her niece was right in front of her. She didn't even care that Lal erased all memory of the visit.
Harry was far too thin, had a situational awareness that was bordering paranoia, and wore clothes that were clearly hand-me-downs from the fat pig who was her cousin.
With how emotionally trying today had been, she wasn't entirely shocked when he crashed and hard in the passenger seat. He clearly hadn't been sleeping well for a while now.
She booked a room in a hotel not too far from where the Leaky Cauldron was supposed to be and let the kid sleep off the shocks she had put him through the day.
The fact his owl showed up in the middle of the night helped. She took one look at Lal before settling near her chick and taking a well deserved nap.
Lal took a look at the missives she was carrying, before ignoring them when they came up clean of any spells. Looks like no one had noticed he had been relocated yet.
Harry was a bit subdued the next morning, and it took an hour before he was properly awake...he seemed to be thrown off his usual schedule when he found out Lal had taken him to a hotel that provided free breakfast, which meant he didn't have to cook at all.
"Hedwig!" he said, once he was awake enough to notice.
"She came last night. Figured I'd read over your shoulder rather than open them without permission," said Lal.
Harry looked at her oddly, but at least she respected his privacy to an extent.
It was when he got to Sirius' letter that he stopped and looked at her from where she was standing.
"What's the Marauder's Code?" he asked seriously.
Lal rolled her eyes. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
The words on the letter vanished to reveal a far different message.
Pup, odds are that when you're reading this Lilac will have already removed you from that house. You can trust her. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about your older sister sooner but I've been a bit more leery of Dumbledore since he's been keeping me locked up in my own house for 'security reasons'. You would honestly be better off disappearing for a while, since it's clear the old goat has no idea what the hell he's talking about if dementors are showing up at a supposedly secure location.
Lily was already pregnant with your sister the day they graduated, but Charlus had her sent to live with the Merchant family for safety reasons because he didn't trust Dumbledore and wanted to insure the line continued. I've been keeping in touch with her since I ran into her shortly after I escaped with Buckbeak...it took some doing but she genuinely believes I'm innocent.
I wish I could have said something sooner, but considering where Dumbledore left you it was probably for the best she was raised in secret with your cousins.
Trust your sister.
Harry put the letter down. It was clear he was in a bit of shock at the moment.
"Your name is Lilac?" he asked.
"Most call me Lal Mirch. You know that anagram spell?" she asked, and Harry nodded. "Well my first try I got a result, but apparently I messed it up somehow because it came out 'Lal Mirch' rather than anything that remotely resembled Lilac Merchant, or even Lilac Potter. So I decided to run with it after I graduated to keep people from learning who I was...no offense, but that fame of yours is seriously annoying as hell to deal with."
She couldn't count the number of times she had to deal with idiot wizards trying to get into her pants because she was "Harry Potter's older sister", which made her head of the family. The fools actually believed getting on her good side would result in some of her brother's fame parceling out to them, despite the fact she never had a chance to meet him and had no idea where he was.
Lal took one look at the expression on his face, before making very sure he saw exactly what she was about to do. She hugged him awkwardly, because she wasn't exactly good at being 'nice'. It was a defensive mechanism to deal with idiots who wouldn't take a hint and leave her alone, or expected her to be some useless twit just because she was a woman and the head of a noble family.
Joining the military was the best damn decision she had ever made and she would never regret it.
Harry appreciated it, especially since he knew she was planning to hug him first. He still flinched whenever someone tried to hug him without him knowing it first.
Though oddly the twins were able to get past that particular habit by the end of second year, when they had unofficially adopted him as the 'eighth Weasley' and started bringing him in on their pranks.
He was quite possibly the only one in Gryffindor who had never suffered one of their pranks.
Once they ate something (and Lal gave him a cap) they went to Gringotts to sort a few things out...like his schooling situation.
Harry left that particular meeting with an odd look on his face.
"So...I'm a noble?"
"We are nobility, little brother. To be more specific, I'm the head of the Potter family and you're due to become the head of the Blacks. Both are 'Ancient and Noble' houses, so it evens out since we are related to the Blacks through our paternal grandmother Dorea. It really doesn't hurt that the Black magicks are a bit more...male-oriented...than the Potter magicks."
Seeing she had his undivided attention, Lal easily fell into instructor mode all while subtly diverting the kid towards the mall. Like hell was her brother wearing those rags a day longer. Besides, she really needed to get his eyes checked. He was squinting far too much, even with the glasses.
"The Black family specializes in the really old school druid-type magic. Which means blood runes and sacrifices, never mind some of the...less than friendly spells that can leave our enemies begging for mercy that will never come. When a Black wants to get revenge, they don't bother playing around with cheap spells like the Unforgivables... we're heavily encouraged to be more creative than that," said Lal. "The Potters though... the Potters were primarily spell research, curse breaking and warding. Or to sum it up another way, we're all insane treasure hunters without a lick of sense and bizarre luck out the ass."
Harry had to say it, he couldn't help himself.
"Does that make you Lara Croft?" he asked innocently.
Lal had a surprised grin on her face.
"Why yes, yes it does," she agreed cackling. Harry grinned at her, before registering where they were. "We're going shopping, runt. Then we're going to toss out all the clothes that don't fit and once we get clearance we're going to head back to where I live. I only have a week's leave to clear up your living situation anyway. And... how long have you had those glasses?"
"Aunt Petunia got them from the bargain bin when I was eight," said Harry.
Lal's eyes narrowed on him.
"You've never been to an eye doctor?"
"I've never been to a doctor, period except the time I broke my arm and the teachers sent me to have it set before calling the Dursleys to tell them what happened," said Harry without thinking. Something about his sister made him relax. Like he knew he was safe around her.
Lal growled.
"We are getting you new clothes, and then I am going to drag your ass to the eye doctors to get a proper prescription. I don't know what the fuck that horse-faced bitch was thinking, since even idiots know that prescriptions change all the time especially when it comes to kids. You should have been visiting the eye doctor at least once a year to get new glasses," she explained to him patiently.
"Really?" he said shocked.
"Eyes change as you grow, even if they don't change shape. With the way you're squinting it's clear you're wearing the wrong prescription and depending on what they say we might be able to get you contacts as well," said Lal.
He perked up at that. Fortunately Lal didn't give a damn what sort of clothes he picked, so long as they fit, were durable and were mostly appropriate. Then again, she had dragged him to an army surplus store, so it wasn't like there was much selection. She got a discount for being active military, though she had taken one look at the weapons on display and sniffed at them.
Harry wondered if she would be willing to give him combat training. He was tired of getting beaten up because he couldn't use magic.
He came out in clothes that actually fit, a pair of new combat boots much like the ones she was wearing, and a headband that easily hid his scar. Hats were too easy to knock off, and he liked the camouflage print this one had, even if it would be useless as such considering it was a bright red color.
The eye doctors was a real 'eye opener', and it was only Harry's comment that his sister had only recently learned about him that kept the man from calling the cops on her.
Not only was he wearing the wrong prescription, but the glasses had been giving him migraines for years because his eyes kept trying to adjust and couldn't.
They would be able to pick up his new glasses in three days...fortunately they had contacts with his prescription in stock, so he was able to toss his old pair into the trash.
The doctor looked at his old frames as if they had personally offended him.
Harry on the other hand was looking all around him with new eyes, as everything seemed so much clearer than he could ever recall.
"Come on runt... let's get something to eat. I don't know about you but I'm starving," said Lal.
Harry nodded eagerly. Having an older sister was great!